PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) - A Rhode Island man who authorities say has ties to organized crime has started serving a five-year sentence stemming from his role in the beating of a married couple at a Providence club nearly a decade ago.
Anthony Parrillo, 69, of Cranston, surrendered Wednesday and was taken to the state prison, Attorney General Peter Neronha said in a statement.
Parrillo was convicted in the December 2011 assault at a jury-waived trial in 2015. He was sentenced in 2016 but appealed to the Rhode Island Supreme Court on the grounds that he had not recieved a fair trial because the judge had improperly “coached” prosecutors.
He was released on bail pending the appeal.
The Supreme Court affirmed his conviction in June.
“Today marks the conclusion of a case that took significant time, energy, and effort to ensure that justice was served,” Neronha said. “The passage of time should not dull the memory of the defendant’s violent conduct.”
Parrillo was sentenced to life behind bars for two killings in 1977, but no bodies were ever found and the Supreme Court overturned the conviction, WPRI-TV reports. He eventually pleaded guilty to second-degree murder, was sentenced to 20 years, and paroled in 1994.
Investigators have identified Parrillo as an associate of the Patriarca crime family.
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